Raikou Arashi
by autumnxwinds
Summary: When a small allying village to Konoha is destroyed Tsunade sends Team 7 to investagate. No one expected what they would find. I am extremely bad at summaries. Please at least read the first chapter.
1. Crimson

Crimson

**Chapter One**

Crimson. It was all she could see. It was on her clothes, covering her entire body. _What happened?_ She could only remember a burning rage in her belly as they taunted her.

"_Demon!"_

"_Monster!"_

"_Freak!"_

There had been something blue whipping around her. They had run, they had been scared. There had been crackles and flashes. Her skin had burned like a thousand suns, yet at the same time had felt cool, like she was taking a cold bath after a long, hot day.

She had felt different. She had felt _powerful_.

That's when she had blacked out.

When she had awoken she found herself surrounded by destruction. Small fires were going out around her, smoke curling off charred bodies. Her stomach burned and she felt dry, despite the blood caking her form.

_I'll just wash off._ She headed towards the stream in a daze. She looked straight forward, not noticing, or maybe not caring, about the death and destruction she passed.

She stumbled into the flowing water, the blood and dirt washing off her and trailing down the stream in her wake. She fell and floated on her back, letting her body be carried down the river. The water washed her body off, revealing long white hair and light blue, almost white eyes, dull with pain.

Her body was going numb; she couldn't feel the debris brushing against her as it floated past, nor the fish beginning to nibble at her already ragged clothes. It wasn't until her normally light pink lips were blue and she couldn't feel her arms and legs that she took notice of her condition. Instinct kicked in and she dragged herself out of the debris-ridden water and up the muddy slope.

When she reached the top she stopped and lay on her back, arms and legs spread out.

"What… happened?" Her voice was cracked and dry and her tongue felt fuzzy. She lay there for hours, staring at the sky as storm clouds gathered and rolled towards her.

She sat up slowly and stared at the water. _I suppose I should get some water._ She didn't really know why, but she had a strange feeling that she was fading.

The white-haired girl stumbled to her feet and tripped down to the water's edge. Spotting her reflection in the water she blinked in confusion. Her hair wasn't supposed to be white; it was supposed to be black. And her eyes were orange, not blue-white.

_What the hell?_ She blinked a few times, but soon forgot that she used to look different and cupped her hands to gather water, bringing it to her face and drinking greedily.

She sat back and crossed her legs. _What's my name?_ A rain drop landed on her face and she looked up again, watching as bright flashes signaled lightning and thunder rumbled loudly above her.

_Raikou… Arashi?_ She loved lightning. She didn't know why, but she loved it. She loved storms too. Lightning flashed above her in the clouds, moving off to strike somewhere else.

_Raikou… Kumori?_ She had always stayed in the shadows; for fear of… of what? She didn't know, but whatever it was, she felt like lashing out and killing it.

No, she would stick to Raikou Arashi; Kumori would only bring bad feelings to the surface.

Raikou Arashi stood quickly, but toppled over just as fast. She looked at her legs dumbly. _They must be numb from sitting down for so long._ She stood slower this time and, when she had steadied herself, she took a tentative step forward. Then another, and another. Raikou made her way slowly downriver, walking on the thin strip of shore, pins and needles shooting up her legs at every step.

She noticed a curl of smoke above the tree line and paused for a moment, thinking. _Someone is probably there. I can ask them for help._ Raikou turned to the slope on her left and started to trudge up it, making for the plume of smoke.

She tripped forward and landed on her stomach, face turned sideways. She grabbed a tuft of grass and pulled herself forward, unable to move her legs. She pulled herself through the grass and made it to the tree line, then dragged her legs around so that she could sit with her back against a pine. Looking down, Raikou found that her legs were covered in a small cuts and bruises, and there was one long scar running down from the front of her knee to her heel.

_What the hell?_ She shifted her arm to set it next to her leg, then touched the scar gingerly. Fiery pain shot up her leg and she threw her head back, screaming. Images flashed before her eyes; people screaming—running from something; terrified, blood-streaked faces staring up in horror; men running forward, swords and daggers poised to strike; but then the men were on the ground, their black-charred bodies bleeding from every shriveled pore.

"No… No… No…" She began to hyperventilate, her eyes widening at what she had seen. "I did that. I did it all." She began to cough uncontrollably and blood spattered across the ground.

"What is this?" A voice came from her left and she looked up to see a boy with a katana slung across his back and a black shirt that showed his midriff. He also wore a headband on his forehead with the symbol for the Leaf Village, Konoha, on it. He pressed his ear bud and said, "Captain Yamato and Sakura, you both need to come to my position. I've found a young girl that has terrible wounds all over her body." He watched her carefully while he called for help, then walked cautiously towards her.

She watched him helplessly, coughing up more and more blood. As he got closer he stretched out a hand, like you would to a stray dog, but she cringed back.

"Don't-" she coughed again "-come near me. I might kill yo-" her body was racked by another coughing fit.

He stopped and sat back on his heels, just watching her. A girl wearing a lot of red and pink colored clothes landed on his right while a man in standard jounin uniform landed on the boy's left. They were also Leaf-nins.

The pink-haired girl came forward, but when she tried to touch Raikou the younger girl slapped her hand away, eyes wide.

"Don't. I don't want to kill you too!"

"It's alright, I'm just going to heal you." Sakura put her hand gently on Raikou's shoulder, causing the younger girl to flinch. "See? Nothing happened. My name's Sakura. Now, can you lay down for me? It'll make it easier to see what's wrong with you."

Raikou allowed Sakura to lay her down, but she was hit with another wave of coughs and had to sit up again. She was now as blood-covered as she had been when she woke up at the village, and beneath it all she was white as a hospital sheet.

Sakura looked worried. "We'll just let you sit up, then." She turned to the others. "Captain Yamato, Sai, can you two move over there-" she pointed behind her at a very large tree "-I need some privacy."

They nodded and stood, then walked to the tree.

Sakura turned back to Raikou. "I'm going to need you to lift your shirt up so that I can find out what's wrong with your stomach, okay?" Raikou nodded and pulled her ragged, ripped shirt up with shaky hands.

Sakura channeled chakra into her hand and placed it over the girl's stomach, then closed her eyes and allowed the chakra to explore the body.

_Torn lung, five broken ribs, scars everywhere, small cuts and bruises… What happened to this girl?_ Sakura opened her eyes and glanced at the girl's face, only to find she had passed out. She carefully pulled the girl forward and sent chakra into the back of her neck, exploring the spinal column and her brain. _What is this?! Her spinal column is cracked in several places; she should be dead, or at the least paralyzed. The only other person I know to have sustained wounds like these are… Naruto._

Sakura sighed. _Guess I should get started._

Well, I know nothing about the human body, so all of her wounds and such are guess work. I didn't know if anyone would like this and I didn't want to waste time researching just to find out no one reads it other than me.

R&R please!!


	2. Demon Weasel

**Chapter 2**

"Hey, hey. What's going on?" Naruto jumped down from a tree and landed before Yamato. "Why are we all here?" He looked behind the other two at Sakura, hunched over someone. "Who's that?"

"Slow down, Naruto. Sai found a wounded girl and called Sakura to heal her. We don't know who she is."

"Hmm?" Naruto scrunched up his face.

_**Brat, go to that girl.**_

Naruto closed his eyes and reappeared in his mind before the giant cage in his stomach. "Why should I listen to you?"

_**You came to talk to me, didn't you? Means you're curious. I know something about that girl, and you can help heal her.**_

"Whaaat? I'm not a medic, and I don't even know any healing jutsu. And I didn't come because I was curious, you just annoy me," he pouted.

The Kyuubi laughed. _**Sure, sure. But just because you don't know any medical jutsu doesn't mean I don't. I mean, I **__**have**__** been healing you for the past 16 years.**_

"Why would you ever want to heal someone other than me? You only heal me because _you_ don't want to die." The blond pointed an accusing finger at the giant fox.

The Kyuubi growled. _**I'm getting annoyed, brat. Just get to the girl and let me do the rest. I have my own reasons for doing this.**_

"No. I don't want to. I think you're trying to trick me."

That was the final straw for the ancient fox. Red chakra shot out from his cage and wrapped Naruto up tight. _**Fine, be that way, I'll just possess you. Now, unless you want me running wild, I suggest you get to that girl. NOW.**_

Naruto's eyes snapped open to find Yamato watching him carefully.

"Naruto, what were you doing?"

The sun-kissed blond shook his head roughly, trying to get the foxes words out of his head. He shoved past the captain and continued on to Sakura.

"Wha- Naruto, what are you doing?"

Sai looked up from his drawings to see the blond idiot going towards Sakura. He noticed with alarm that there was a red haze around the boy's body. "Captain Yamato!"

Yamato looked more carefully at Naruto, but he needn't have, for the red haze was becoming more and more visible. A feeling of immense dread descended around the area, causing Sakura to look back at them. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

Naruto's eyes were blood-red and the Kyuubi's chakra was covering his entire body, though luckily there weren't any tails. His clothes were floating in the bubbling chakra and some of it was beginning to disintegrate.

Yamato stared at him. _What the hell is he doing? Why did he release the Kyuubi's chakra?_ Then his eyes were drawn to something else. There were blue flashes behind Sakura. _What…?_ Then his eyes widened as a streak of lightning shot down behind Sakura, blasting the pink-haired kunoichi away and sending wood and earth shrapnel shooting in every direction. He covered his eyes against the flying debris and bright flash.

Naruto stopped and narrowed his eyes slightly against the flash, the debris burning on contact with the Kyuubi's chakra.

Lightning was streaking across the ground towards the girl and encircling her form, yet it didn't touch her at all.

_Hey, Stupid Fox… what is that?_

_**That, brat, is the Protection Circle of the Rokubi no Itachi. The Six-tailed Demon Weasel.**_

_She's a jinchuuriki, too?_

_**No duh. You'll be able to walk straight through the circle with my chakra coating you, but you have to do this fast. If that girl isn't healed then Rokubi might die.**_

_Why do you care about the Rokubi thing? You've never cared about other jinchuuriki before._

_**Because that freak of a weasel has information that I need. It's information that should've been given to me before I was sealed, but that lazy ass didn't **__**feel**__** like it. I'm gonna ring his freakin' NECK!**_

Naruto flinched as the demon fox tried to get a claw through his cage. He waded through the lightning and stood over the girl, taking in her features.

_Why does she have white hair? She doesn't look old enough for that._

_**Rokubi probably felt like a color change was in order. He likes to mess with things.**_

Naruto bent down. _Uh… what am I supposed to do?_

_**Place your right hand on her stomach and leave it there until the lightning disappears.**_

_Okay…_

Naruto placed his hand on her stomach and immediately the red chakra of the Kyuubi shot in through the seal that had formed there. He sat in the lightning circle for what felt like a long time (although it was only 2 minutes), waiting for the crackling energy to disappear.

_Kyuubi, what's taking so long?_

_**Quiet, idiot.**_

_But—_

_**QUIET!**_

The spiky-haired blond stopped asking about it and pouted, jutting out his lower lip and almost crossing his arms across his chest before he remembered that he needed to keep his hand on the girl's stomach. He sat there for a minute more before asking another question… well, another three.

_Can you speak to the Rokubi? What's the girl's name? How much longer is this going to take?_

_**I can speak to him, he just agreed to let down his Circle. He didn't tell me her name. And it'll take just 6 seconds longer, so stop asking.**_

Naruto watched as the lightning died out and he could see his teammates again. _Kyuubi, can you stop feeding chakra now? I think I scared them._

_**Yeah, yeah. You just be happy that I didn't possess you this time. Next time you won't be so lucky.**_

The bubbling blood-colored chakra disappeared quickly and Naruto was about to stand up when a hand clamped around his wrist.

The girl was awake now, and she didn't look too happy, although she didn't look too mad, either. It was more of a scared/angry/annoyed/worried look.

"What did you do?" she whispered, voice quiet, yet sharp and piercing.

The orange-jumpsuit wearing boy blinked in surprise and said, "I healed you."

The girl held his gaze for a while more, then looked around. "Who are they?"

Naruto glanced back at his teammates, "Those are my teammates. We're ninja from Konoha."

Captain Yamato was crouching beside Sakura, who was healing her small wounds, and Sai stood on the other side of her, looking at Naruto.

"Yamato-taichou. The lightning is gone and the girl and Naruto are safe," Sai said.

Yamato turned to Naruto and the stranger. "Naruto, can you carry her over here?"

Raikou sat up quickly and spat out, "I don't need help!" She stood up to prove her point, but her vision went hazy and she stumbled forward, saved from her fall by Naruto's arm wrapping around her waist.

"Yeah, I got her." He lifted her up bridal style and walked towards the others, Raikou complaining all the way that she was fine.

"It was just 'cause I stood up so fast. Put me down!" she cried, glaring at Naruto.

The blond ignored it and said to the Captain, "What are we going to do with her?"

"Well, we have to heal—" he finally noticed that the girl's still-pale skin was completely fine, no wounds present, and that she hadn't coughed yet.

"I already did that."

Yamato blinked his surprise away. "Well, I guess we'll take her to the nearest village and ask if any of them know her."

Naruto began to nod in agreement, but Raikou wasn't going to have it.

"I will NOT be left behind in some stupid village! I'm going with you, wherever you're going!"

"I'm sorry, but you can't we're on a mis—"

"I don't care if you're going to commit suicide! I'm COMING WITH YOU!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at her.

"Why do you want to come with us so badly?" Yamato asked.

"Cause _he's_ like _me_." She jabbed a finger into Naruto's chest.

"Hey, that hurt!" the blond complained.

"Suck it up, crybaby."

Naruto glared at her, "Brat…"

"I seem to recall _you_ being called a brat by a certain ancient fox."

"Oh yeah? Well that weasel called _you_ an idiot."

"I know for a _fact_ that you couldn't hear a word they said, _moron_."

Sakura, Sai, and Yamato watched the argument in growing confusion until the captain intervened.

"You can come with us to the nearest village. We'll figure out what to do with you on the way there."

"We already know what we're going to do. We're going to take me with us to Konoha. End of discussion."

Sakura's brow twitched. "You're a bossy little girl…" she muttered darkly.

"And? What'cha gonna do about it, eh?"

Sakura's brow twitched harder. "Eh?"

Naruto's eyes widened and he whispered out of the corner of his mouth, watching his long-time crush warily, "Don't get her mad, she's ridiculously strong. If you piss her off, you're dead."

"Puh-lease."

Sakura took a deep breath and calmed herself down. It wouldn't do any good to punch a patient, even if she was the second bossiest child in the world (Konohamaru won first).

"Yamato-taichou, we should go now. Tsunade-sama is expecting us back in two days time and we haven't even made it to the town yet."

"You're right, Sakura. Naruto, can you carry… What's your name, girl?"

Raikou blinked. "Uh… Raikou Arashi."

_Lord of Lightning and Storms. It fits her well. Her natural affinity is with lightning, which seems to be mastered, and her personality is like a storm._ "Alright, let's go."


	3. Secrets

**Chapter 3**

It had been an hour since they had started walking and it was beginning to get dark. Raikou had demanded to be let down and walk on her own, and when Sakura had said that she may faint, the younger girl had glared at her and said that she would be fine. And although she had to lean on Naruto from time to time, Raikou was doing exceptionally well for someone who had just lost a bunch of blood.

It was during one of Raikou's resting periods (when she leaned on Naruto) that it started to rain, hard.

They all moved quickly into the trees and sheltered beneath the leaves. Lightning struck on the road where they had just been on, blasting a small hole in the ground.

"Whoa! That was a close one," Yamato said, smiling, trying to lighten the mood. "Should we make camp or keep going?" he asked the rest of the team.

"I don't care." Sai said.

"I don't know… I think we should try to get to the village before dawn, but with such a heavy rain I'm not sure we'll be able to find it easily," Sakura said thoughtfully.

"We should keep going, if we just follow the road we should find the village" Naruto said, pulling Raikou's arm from over his shoulder and helping her sit with her back to a tree.

"Hmm… What village are you going to, exactly?" she asked, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

"The Hidden Earth Village."

"Oh. Well, you won't find anything but destruction and death there," Raikou sighed.

Everyone snapped their eyes up to her. "What do you mean?" Yamato asked.

"I mean what I say. You won't find anyone living there."

"Why is that? Have you been there recently?"

Raikou snorted. "Been there recently? I'm the only one left."

"What happened there?" the Captain asked.

Raikou answered with a ready half-lie, "Two strangers came to the village a few days ago. They had weird cloaks, black with red clouds…" She watched as the four exchanged dark looks, then Yamato turned to her and said, "Go on. Are they the ones that attacked the village?"

The demon container hesitated, unwilling to tell them a lie, but knowing she must to avoid awkward questions and imprisonment.

"Yes. Just this morning, but the village is a complete mess."

"Taichou, we should hurry there. We might get information about Akatsuki!" Sakura pushed excitedly.

Raikou watched them apprehensively, afraid they might find out who had really destroyed if they looked carefully at all of the damage.

"Can I… Can you let me bury the bodies?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but no. We must examine them for clues about their deaths. And anyways, ninjas aren't buried, their burned, to make sure that enemies don't take their secrets," the captain replied, shaking his head apologetically.

"Oh…"

Naruto looked at the white-haired girl, for some reason he got the feeling she wasn't telling everything she knew…

_**She's just like that damn weasel. Never tells the whole truth… I'm gonna kill that freakin' beach bum.**_

_So, what is it that you hate so much about the Rokubi?_

_**None of your business!**_

_C'mon, I won't tell anybodyyyyyy~ Pleeaaase? Pleeeeeeaaaaaase? Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaase?_

_**No. Go away.**_

_Pretty, pretty please? Nobody but you and me will know. Who would believe that I talked to the demon inside my stomach anyways? Tell me!_

_**I said NO!**_

_Come on! Maybe if you tell me I'll let you go rampant with my body. Please, Oh Great and Venerable Fox, share your wisdom with my lowly human mind._

_**FINE! Just stop asking, it's driving me insane!**_

_You were already insane, stupid…_

_**What was that?**_

_Nothing! You gonna tell me now?_

_**I suppose… It's about the day I was sealed. The day I attacked the village.**_

_Ooo! This sounds good. Please, continue._

The Kyuubi growled in annoyance, but finally settled down in a comfortable laying position and began.

_**I was planning on destroying the village soon, but I wanted to make sure that the Hokage was away so that he couldn't stop me.**_

_This sounds interesting. I finally get to know the great secrets of the demon fox._

_**You want to hear about it or not?**_

_Yes! I wanna know, I wanna know!_

_**Shut up, then! Jeez… Well, Raiden was supposed to give me the go ahead, but whenever I tried to contact him I would come up against this wall. The one time I could get to him he said he had extremely important information that I needed to know right away, but after that his mind and presence disappeared completely. I thought he had somehow died.**_

_How did you contact him? What was the information you needed to know? Can demons even die unless they're in a container?_

_**See, this is why I never tell you stories! You can't even listen long enough to get halfway through them!**_

_But I only asked because I don't understand that wall thing you were talking about. And I was wondering if you __**could**__ die._

_**Us bijuu, or tailed demons, can speak with each other through our minds. We have to be in a calm and untouched area where the earth can more easily transfer our thoughts.**_

_What do you mean, 'untouched'?_

_**Not invaded by humans. Those kind of areas are hard to come by nowadays, though, what with the expansion of all you parasites.**_

_Umm… Okay. So can you die? And what was that information?_

_**We can die, but only if we ever run out of chakra, so it's only happened once. The demon that was supposed to keep me in check, the ten-tailed, died thousands of years ago. We're not sure what happened to him, but I don't think that it really matters, cause now I can do whatever I want and not worry about consequences.**_ At this the fox offered a giant, malevolent smile and a deep throaty chuckle.

_So… you're more powerful than all the other demons?_

_**Yes. Which is why it's so damn annoying that I've been sealed away. That damned fourth knew what was coming; he even had the sealing jutsu planned out before I got there! **_The red-furred fox slammed his head into the gate, making Naruto jump back.

_**I can't believe Raiden didn't tell me! Was this what I was supposed to know? Argh! **_He thrashed about in his cage for minutes on end during which Naruto backed all the way against the opposite wall.

The monster let out a long sigh and collapsed onto the water-covered ground. _**Go away, brat. I'm tired of telling you stories. Leave me be for the rest of the night…**_ He sounded somewhat defeated, but while the teen wanted to push buttons, he also _didn't_ want to be possessed, and so he opened his rich blue eyes to the real world.


End file.
